Work And Life With Stew Friedman

Nigel Travis is Executive Chairman of Dunkin' Brands. His new book is The Challenge Culture: Why the Most Successful Organizations Run on Pushback. Nigel served as CEO of Dunkin' Brands from 2009 through July 2018. His distinctive human-centered perspective on leadership and management, now viewed as essential in today’s complex and diverse global organizations, took root early in his career when he was a human resources manager. Prior to Dunkin Brands, he served as President and COO at Blockbuster, and President and CEO at Papa John’s. In 2017, he became owner of Leyton Orient Football, a troubled professional soccer team that presents a unique opportunity to implement his challenge culture strategy. Stew and Nigel discuss how organizations and employees thrive in today’s hyper-competitive world when there’s a culture that supports questioning everything without disrespecting anyone. That means everyone -- from new recruit to senior executive -- must be given the freedom to speak up and question the status q

Amy Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School. Her work on teaming, psychological safety, and leadership influences corporate and academic audiences around the world. In November Wiley will publish her latest book, which is called The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace For Learning, Innovation and Growth. Her other books include Extreme Teaming: Lessons in Complex, Cross-Sector Leadership, which provides new insight into the effective management of global enterprises and teaming across boundaries. She is also the author of Building the Future: Big Teaming for Audacious Innovation, Teaming to Innovate. Amy has published numerous articles in the Harvard Business Review and in leading academic journals . She has been recognized by the biannual Thinkers50 global ranking of management thinkers since 2011 and was honored with the Talent Award in 2017. Stew and Amy talk about the importance of psychological safety at work in today’s

Laura Vanderkam is the author of Off The Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done as well as several other time management and productivity books, including such as I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time and What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast. She co-hosts, with Sarah Hart-Unger, the podcast Best of Both Worlds. Her TED talk, How to Gain Control of Your Free Time, has been viewed more than six million times. She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and four children. Stew and Laura talk about how we perceive the amount of time we have, how spending time with friends and family affects our perception of time, the importance of scheduling in daily “vacations,” and ways to savor the good moments in order to expand time. Laura describes what she’s observed from her research on people who keep time logs and she provides practical tips for how we can use time not only to be more productive, but also to help us enjoy life more. See acast.com/privacy for

Nancy Rothstein, a proud Penn alum, is known as The Sleep Ambassador. She is also Director of Corporate Sleep Programs at CIRCADIAN, a global company that provides 24/7 workforce performance and safety solutions for businesses that operate around the clock. Nancy, who earned her MBA from from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, helps people make lasting shifts to optimize their sleep quality and quantity. As Director of CIRCADIAN® Corporate Sleep Programs, she consults to Fortune 500 corporations awakening leadership to the value of a good night’s sleep for their workforce and providing sleep education for employees at all levels. She also lectures on sleep to the medical and dental communities to encourage integrating relevant sleep information into their practice. Nancy is the author of My Daddy Snores. Stew and Nancy talk about the well-documented sequelae of sleep deprivation, which is now rampant in our society -- individual problems such as depression, weight gain, and heart disease; t

Guy Spier is an investor based in Zurich. In June 2007 he made headlines by bidding US $650,100 with Mohnish Pabrai for a charity lunch with Warren Buffett. Since 1997 he has managed Aquamarine Fund, an investment partnership inspired by, and styled after, the original 1950’s Buffett partnerships. Previously, Guy Spier worked as an investment banker in New York and as a management consultant in London and Paris. Spier is co-host of TEDxZurich and wrote The Education of a Value Investor: My Transformative Quest for Wealth, Wisdom and Enlightenment. In this episode, Guy and Stew talk about finding the courage to be honest at work and in one’s life. Guy discusses how the virtues of candor and how people are attracted to one’s ability to speak honestly about personal strengths and weaknesses. Drawing on a host of inspirations in his life, from ancient Greek literature to Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography, Guy describes his journey to self-discovery. For him, true success derives from our ability to reflect and learn

Morra Aarons-Mele is founder of the award-winning social impact agency Women Online and The Mission List, a social change influencer database. She is an Internet marketer who has been working with women online since 1999, when she helped Hillary Clinton log on for her first Internet chat. Morra has launched online campaigns for President Obama, Malala Yousafzai, the United Nations, and many other leading figures and organizations. She’s the host of the popular podcast Hiding in the Bathroom and her book is Hiding in the Bathroom: A Roadmap to Getting Out There (When You'd Rather Stay Home). Stew and Morra talk about the narrow view of success that persists in our society and its costs, both financial and human, which have taken their toll on her. Morra rails against the false glorification displayed in what she calls “entrepreneurship porn.” They explore middle-ground alternatives, such as giving ourselves time to breath; the importance of accepting, acknowledging, and embracing anxiety; and how anxiety can a

Herminia Ibarra is the Charles Handy Professor of Organizational Behavior at London Business School. Before that she was on the faculty at INSEAD and the Harvard Business School. She is a judge for the Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award, a member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network, and recognized by Thinkers 50 among the most influential management thinkers in the world. Her book Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader explains how to step up to a bigger leadership role. Her best-selling Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career describes how people reinvent their careers. Ibarra, who received her M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University, where she was a National Science Fellow, is a master educator and world-renowned scholar whose advice is sought by many organizations. Stew and Herminia, who go way back to grad school days, discuss the essentials in Act Like a Leader and the many ways one can cultivate and use a broad and diverse network to enhance one

Neil Blumenthal is co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker, a lifestyle brand that offers designer eyewear at a low price with a focus on being socially conscious. Prior to launching Warby Parker in 2010, Neil served as director of VisionSpring, a nonprofit social enterprise that trains low-income women to start their own businesses selling affordable eyeglasses to individuals living on less than $4 per day in developing countries. In 2015, Fast Company named Warby Parker the most innovative company in the world. He was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company. Neil received his BA from Tufts University and his MBA here at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Stew and Neil have a wide-ranging talk about his time at Wharton, the importance of honest conversations to build trust, why continual learning by employees is essential to a thriving company, and the ways in which parenthood changes our relationship to time

Susan Ashford is Chair of the Management and Organizations Group at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, where she holds the Michael and Susan Jandernoa Professorship in Management and Organization. Her passion is using her teaching and research to help people be maximally effective in their work settings. Her research has been published in a variety of top academic outlets as well as in the business media. In 2002, Sue was named a Fellow of the Academy of Management, recognizing the top 1% of scholars in a world-wide professional association of nearly 20,000 professors and practitioners interested in improving management scholarship, education, and practice. That association also awarded her the prestigious Career Achievement Award for Distinguished Scholarly Contributions to Management in 2017. Sue and Stew discuss how to make the gig economy work for you by cultivating connections to people as well as to place, establishing routines, and focusing on purpose. They talk about the pros a

Keith Ferrazzi is a New York Times best-selling author, entrepreneur, and master networker. His research and consulting firm, Ferrazzi Greenlight, helps companies manage networks and relationships in order to reach strategic goals. He is the author of several books including Never Eat Alone which discusses the power of interpersonal relationships to stimulate personal growth and Who’s Got Your Back. Greenlight Giving, his foundation, does similar work through community service, building relationships by teaching those in need. Keith and Stew talk about the importance of relationships in all parts of life. Keith describes how stronger relationships can help an individual grow at home and at work. He also describes how these relationships can help a company internally as well as ultimately increasing its economic value. He details the ways in which service to those around you and to strangers in need can improve relationships in all parts of your life. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Yuri Kruman is an experienced executive and management consultant for Fortune 500 companies such as Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and top VC-backed startups such as Maxwell. He is a startup advisor and official member of the Forbes Coaches Council as well as a Forbes contributor. Yuri's consulting, advising, and coaching portfolio includes speaking engagements, workshops, and advisory work on personal and professional development. He's been published or featured on Inc., Fast Company, Time, Mashable, PBS, BBC, and numerous other media. Yuri trains client teams on ways to maximize talent retention, learning and development using storytelling, branding, and personal development. And he has a book coming out soon -- What Millennials Really Want from Work and Life. Yuri and Stew talk about how the trajectory of careers has changed; the pros and cons of career switching; and the effects of mobility for individuals, families, organizations, and society. But to start, Yuri describes his own remarkably mobile profe

This week Stew speaks with three guests who are all advocates of paid family leave: Ellen Bravo, Washington State Republican Senator Joe Fain, and Hawaii Democratic State Representative Kaniela Ing. Ellen Bravo is a founding director of Family Values @ Work, a network of coalitions in 27 states working for policies such as paid sick days and family and medical leave insurance. Before that, Ellen was director of 9to5, an organization improving working conditions and ensuring the rights of women. She has written several non-fiction books, including Taking on the Big Boys, or Why Feminism is Good for Families, Business and the Nation. Ellen served on the bipartisan Commission on Leave appointed by Congress to study the impact of the Family and Medical Leave Act. Among her commendations are a Ford Foundation Visionary award and, like Stew, she’s been honored with the Families and Work Institute Work-Life Legacy Award. Republican Senator Joe Fain of Washington State has an MBA and an undergraduate degree in Politi

Dr. Leah Weiss is author of How We Work: Live Your Purpose, Reclaim Your Sanity, and Embrace the Daily Grind. Leah teaches a perennially waitlisted course at Stanford Business School called "Leading with Mindfulness and Compassion." With a degree in Social Work and in Theology she she brings a distinctive perspective to business education. As a lecturer, teacher, and trainer, she has developed customized trainings that integrate evidence-based meditation techniques with the latest academic research. She provides coaching and consulting sessions for groups, organization, and individuals such as Google, LinkedIn, University of California at Berkeley, and many others. She has worked closely with the Dalai Lama’s main interpreter and has implemented the compassion education and scholarship program at Hope Lab. Stew and Leah talk about how to help people recognize what they truly care about so they can live and work more purposefully. They describe the benefits of mindfulness and compassion in today’s overstuffed

Dan Calista is founder and CEO of Vynamic, named #1 boutique consulting firm, as well as Best Small Firm and Best Places to Work. Vynamic is the Philadelphia area’s largest management consulting firm focused exclusively on the healthcare industry. Dan has created a work culture that emphasizes the happiness and health of his team members as well as his clients. He walks the talk and the result is that all stakeholders win. Stew and Dan talk about the various ways Vynamic invests in the whole lives of people in the organization, including a policy that enables members to set real boundaries between work and the rest of life. Vynamic has a “Z-Mail” policy; the Z stands for catching some Z’s, sleep. Z-mail hours are 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and it’s the norm not to send emails during those hours. At Vynamic, values drive decision-making and it’s been a good investment, one that’s paid off in their ability to perform well as a business. Dan’s puts his philosophy this way: We’re “growing for our people and not at the exp

Maggie Jackson is an award-winning author and former Boston Globe columnist known for her penetrating coverage of social issues, especially technology’s impact on humanity. Her essays and articles have appeared in publications worldwide, including the The New York Times, Business Week, Utne, and on National Public Radio. One of her most popular books is Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age which jumpstarted our global conversation on the steep costs of fragmenting our attention. Stew and Maggie discuss these costs and their consequences. Maggie believes this fragmentation is such a destructive force that there is a coming dark age, an age where the quality of communication drops dramatically. One of the best ways to curb the negative effects of technology is to simply talk about it with family members and coworkers, then takes steps to create workable boundaries, to allow for undistracted time. Maggie explores other solutions too in this engaging conversation. You can find a transcript

Maurice Schweitzer is the Cecilia Yen Koo Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on emotions, ethical decision-making, and the negotiation process. Maurice is co-author of the powerful and incredibly useful book Friend & Foe: When to Cooperate, When to Compete, and How to Succeed at Both. He teaches negotiations in Wharton’s executive education program, MBA, and undergraduate programs. In this episode, Maurice and Stew discuss hierarchies that exist in work and family settings. Maurice explains that when power dynamics go unchecked, a group’s collective ability to discover creativity and growth is stifled. He talks about his experience coaching leaders to develop the skill of perspective-taking, to become more attuned to how their power affects those in subordinate positions. They learn to remain open to insights and constructive feedback from individuals lower on the totem pole. From his research, Maurice knows thes

Susan David is the author of the bestselling book Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life. She is one of the world’s leading management thinkers and an award winning Harvard Medical School psychologist. She is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and guest on national radio and television. She was named on the Thinkers50 Radar list of people shaping the future of organizations and management. Susan is CEO of Evidence Based Psychology and Cofounder of the Institute of Coaching (a Harvard Medical School/McLean affiliate). She serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of Thrive Global and Virgin Pulse. Susan and Stew talk about embracing emotions rather than pushing them away or putting on a happy face. Susan describes and illustrates her four key concepts of emotional agility that help us deal effectively and constructively with life’s daily travails as well as its greater challenges. They discuss the impo

Laine Joelson Cohen is Director of Leadership and Executive Development at Citigroup. Leading teams has been the cornerstone of her career. After 20 years working in diverse HR roles, Laine decided to follow her passion for coaching and developing people and became Citi’s North America Director of Leadership, Executive and Professional Development. Laine was recently named to Marshall Goldsmith “100 Coaches” group. She believes leadership happens in small, everyday moments and that each of us has the potential to exhibit leadership by being mindful of these opportunities and making deliberate choices. She holds an M.B.A. in Human Resources Management from the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Connecticut. Stew and Laine talk about how to effectively coach others, how to be coached well, how to provide useful feedback, and the importance of networking in a way that doesn’t feel icky. They discuss the difficulties people have in developing these skills

Due Quach is the founder and CEO of Calm Clarity and author of Calm Clarity: How to Use Science to Rewire Your Brain for Greater Wisdom, Fulfillment and Joy. Due was a refugee from Vietnam, a graduate of Harvard College and also of the Wharton MBA program (Class of 2006). She overcame the long-term effects of poverty and trauma by turning to neuroscience and meditation. After building a successful international business career in management consulting and private equity investments, she studied various contemplative traditions in India and other parts of Asia to create the Calm Clarity Program, which makes mindful leadership accessible to people of all backgrounds. She now leads Calm Clarity workshops in inner-city high schools, university lecture halls, and corporate executive board rooms alike. Due is also the founding chair and executive director of the Collective Success Network, a nonprofit that supports low-income, first-generation college students in achieving their academic, personal, and professional

David Burkus is a best-selling author and associate professor of leadership and innovation at Oral Roberts University. His latest book, Friend of a Friend: Understanding the Hidden Networks That Can Transform Your Life and Your Career, offers a new perspective on how to grow networks and build key connections—one based on the science of human behavior, not rote networking advice. His TED talk has been viewed over 1.8 million times and he is a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review. Stew and David talk about how most people find networking and mixers uncomfortable at best; networking can make people feel actually dirty. David has reviewed and distilled the research literature on social capital and he offers something other than the cookie-cutter advice that can feel inauthentic. He recommends exploring the edges of one’s hidden or neglected network -- one’s weak and dormant ties -- and getting to know people in multifaceted ways by being genuinely curious about their lives rather than by pursuing purel